


Let's Tell Sammy

by MurderousQueen



Series: Don't Tell Sammy [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:43:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8540668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurderousQueen/pseuds/MurderousQueen
Summary: The first alternate ending to Don't Tell Sammy.





	

The thumps had been two bodies, Piper and Dani, thrown roughly against the floor. And the scream was Dalia, choking in mid-air. The witch was standing there, smiling, looking serene, and she was crying black goo, black goo was dripping out of her ears, out of the corners of her mouth, out of the surface of her skin. She didn’t try to stop Dean or Cas as they dashed back inside to grab a loaded gun each, bullets filled with witch killing potion which they both pointed at her and began shooting, and shooting, and shooting.

There were holes in her dress and holes in her body that oozed black, and she looked as though she might be decaying, but still she did not die. She did drop Dalia, who fell to her knees gasping for breath, who Cas ran to to help out while Dean took both guns and began storming towards the witch, shooting every last bullet right into her, stomach, heart, head. Each wound oozed black and then began to heal, although her skin did begin to look flakey like rotting fish scales.

When he got close enough, she grabbed Dean’s wrist and flung him with considerable strength and he flew through the open door of Piper and Dani’s apartment which those two in turn had been thrown out of, hitting the wall across from it and sliding to the floor.

Dean knew the witch had made a mistake, now, because she couldn’t enter the apartment, not with the hex bag hidden in the plant which Dean could see on the worktop as he began to scramble to his feet.

 _Wrong_.

She stepped over the threshold and strolled right over to Dean who she grabbed in a vice-like grip. Cas dashed into the apartment, top half bare and still smeared with drying come, only to be thrown and pinned roughly against the wall.

‘I knew he would come if I hurt you,’ the witch said delicately. ‘I knew you both would come if I began to hurt the ones you know. The perky, tall freak. Those rotten excuses for men who dress as women. The annoying baker and her corrupt friends. But you, it’s you Castiel will always come to. I’ve been watching. And you’re coming with _me_.’

Cas was pinned against the wall as Dean was knocked out by a single touch and dragged away. When Dean was out of sight, Cas fell to the floor and though his knees hit the ground hard and were aching, Cas ran desperately after the witch, but was she even a witch? as she dragged Dean up one flight of stairs and then to the elevator and got it as it began to descend to the tenth floor. Cas took the stars, running as fast as his legs would go, crashing and clanging and pushing past the people who had awoken and come out at all the commotion, taking two, three steps at a time to find the tenth floor completely empty, the elevator too.

‘Dean,’ Cas called desperately. _‘Dean_. DEAN!’

He dashed along both sides, but there was no response. He continued to call out, screaming, screams echoing through the building and he felt like he was trapped in a maze though it was just the same simple floor plan and people were coming out of their apartments but he didn’t care; he pushed past the queens as they came out asking what was wrong, he pushed past the strangers, he even dashed past Hasdiel when he came along looking confused because Cas didn’t have time for former angels right now.

‘She took Dean,’ Cas kept saying manically, as more and more people came from other floors to the see the crazy man on the tenth. ‘She took Dean to the elevator and now he’s gone.’

‘Four,’ said a voice behind him, and he turned to see Lexi the Supernatural fan, ‘Two, six, two, ten, five, ten. You have to go from the lobby. _Go_.’

Four. Two. Six. Two. Ten. Five. Ten. It was the floor pattern from that elevator ritual. It made absolutely no sense, yet it made sense in the same; the girl from the elevator ritual got on at the fifth floor, and she accompanied the ritual do-er to the tenth.

The crazed creature that had Dean had ran up the stairs to the fifth floor dragging Dean like a rag doll, and she had taken the elevator to the tenth.

Castiel bolted into the elevator to take it to the lobby, repeatedly jabbing at the button to make it go faster despite knowing it wouldn’t do anything. He wanted to scream, he wanted to claw his way up the elevator shaft because it would be faster than the speed at which the elevator went from floor to floor doing the stupid ritual that didn’t make sense and wouldn’t work and when it finally reached the last stop on the tenth floor he flew out and holy shit it actually worked.

It was dark and red and hot and out of the windows there were burning crosses in the sky, covered in rotting corpses. The floor was covered in rotting black goo, and Cas was completely alone. He dashed through the hallways and burst into apartments, all empty, until he entered the apartment that in the real world was owned by the drag queens, in this one still looked the exact same as it did in the real one, but without Christmas decorations and _with_ a vile creature standing by Dean who was tied to a chair.

The door slammed shut behind Castiel. The lighting was red.

‘Castiel,’ the vile creature said delicately. ‘At long last. My name is Gaidrel.’

Gaidrel was a familiar name. Castiel had heard of the three banished angels, two of which unknown to humans; Gadreel, who had let the snake into the Garden of Eden, Gadriel, twin to Gadreel, who had once tried to claim himself a God and then Gaidrel, who hated humanity almost as much as Lucifer did. Castiel had never known what had happened to Gadriel or Gaidrel, all he knew was that they were gone before they made a lasting enough impact to make it into the Bible or even into whispers of any religion man followed.

‘You’re an angel,’ Castiel stated.

‘Yes.’

‘Your vessel is rotting.’

‘Yes.’

‘You fell.’

‘No.’

Dean was beginning to awaken. Castiel looked at him and dashed over to him, Gaidrel not stopping him. When Castiel touched the ropes that bound him, they burned, flaming like the crosses hanging in the sky outside.

‘No?’

‘I was banished here, Castiel,’ Gaidrel explained, ‘when our father discovered my hated of human kind. My brother Gadriel was banished similarly, into another world like this, where he is to be alone with other banished creatures and play games with humans stupid enough to try out the rituals to summon him. He is often known as the Hooded Man, who drives a black cab through another world and takes humans on a journey until they tell him to stop. However, he is _not_ the Hooded Man, but a passenger that often gets in with the human passengers and tries to convince them of his Godly state and trick them into entering an alternate reality in which he will improve and collectively ruin their lives. However what I do, is … a little different.’

What the fuck was this crazy bitch talking about? Castiel looked at Dean, awake now, silent and looking pleadingly at Cas. Castiel kneeled by him, holding his hand but not daring to touch the burning rope again.

‘What do you do?’ Castiel asked, only because he knew that’s what Gaidrel wanted to hear.

‘I dwell in this lone dimension and visit those who do the elevator ritual and attack those who do it wrong,’ Gaidrel shrugged. ‘If they do it in pairs, or they look at or talk to me. I let them think they’ve made it back into their world by creating a veiled version of it around them, but inevitably I show up and kill them. Just for fun, usually, until quite recently.’

What the fuck?

‘You see, someone in this building did the ritual after, apparently, some people she knows made some kind of … picture … about my ritual, and about one of the victims I killed by the name of Elisa Lam. Killing her was quite fun. I left her body in a water tank. I based it on a picture I’d heard humans talking about set in Japan. It was quite fitting given the race of my vessel despite me actually originally finding this vessel in Korea.’

The Elevator Ritual. The movie based on it. Lexi, Kat and Evan.

‘Evan did the ritual,’ Castiel realized. She had been the first.

‘Yes,’ Gaidrel confirmed. ‘It was the first time someone had done the ritual since the event during which the angels fell, and as soon as I stepped out into this world on the fifth floor I sensed their presence throughout the land and my vessel’s innards began to decay and excrete its rot. The presence of the angels made my vessel weak, a regular vessel I’m inhabiting rather than my actual self as it became when I first took it. So, naturally, I had to spook the one who had done my ritual and then step out into the world to see what the situation was.’

‘And start killing people,’ Castiel stated.

‘Naturally,’ Gaidrel commented. ‘As soon as I stepped into the world I was overwhelmed with the thoughts and opinions of humanity, and I soon discovered what was going on in this building and that humanity had deemed it wrong and sinful. And since God is my father, and yours, I had to do his work and take care of the sinful behavior.’

‘That’s bullshit,’ said Dean, talking for the first time. ‘God doesn’t give a flying rat’s ass about what these people get up to, Cas told me.’

‘That’s true,’ Gaidrel reasoned, ‘but humanity deems it sinful, and humanity serves God. God wants us to serve humanity, and so I do so and in turn serve the version of God they have created, getting rid of the filth. And then _you_ showed up, Castiel.’

‘You’re bat shit fucking crazy,’ said Dean.

‘God must loathe you,’ Gaidrel told Cas, ignoring Dean.

‘No,’ Castiel said proudly. ‘He doesn’t. God doesn’t care. It’s the delusions of humanity that brought about that mindset.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ Gaidrel replied with a cocked eyebrow.

‘I’m pretty certain,’ Castiel nodded, ‘and even so, if God did have the mindset, he would be wrong.’

‘You would call your own father wrong?’

‘Yes,’ Castiel said decidedly. ‘Freewill is more important than obeying someone none of us have even met. Forming our own opinions is more important than following someone else’s.’

‘Why are you so up God’s ass anyway?’ Dean asked. ‘Didn’t you say he banished you?’

‘Yes, but he’s still my father,’ Gaidrel justified. ‘You have to obey your father.’

‘Bullshit,’ Dean snapped. ‘Listen lady – and I use that term loosely – I thought like that once. I did everything my dad told me to and it took years after he died for me to realize half of it was fucking wrong. You don’t have to live like that.’

‘Don’t tell me anything to do with my father is _wrong_ ,’ Gaidrel hissed. _‘This_ is wrong. You are wrong. What goes on in this building is wrong. Those little friends I attacked to get to your attention were wrong. Men dressing up as women. Men _living_ as women.’

‘Men dressing up as women is a high form of entertainment,’ Castiel justified, ‘and those “men” living as women _are_ women.’

‘Cas, she’s been living in her own world for God knows how fucking long. She’s dumb as shit. This entire situation is dumb as shit. I’m tied to a chair by a crazy ass angel who sounds like some regular dick strolling in off the street and spewing rubbish. It’s almost funny how dumb she is.’

‘You’re dumb,’ Gaidrel retorted childishly.

Castiel looked from Dean to Gaidrel. He looked around the room with its red light and thought of the outside with its burning crosses covered in corpses. And then he looked at Gaidrel’s overly angry expression, and it started to seem funny. She _was_ just another dick, any old dick with those opinions, and she was so wrong it was practically funny.

Suddenly the lighting began to change, and the darkness lifted, and they were just sitting in a normal apartment. The ropes on Dean’s wrists stopped flaming, and Cas was able untie them. Gaidrel looked very phased by this turn of events.

‘You’re stupid,’ Castiel told Gaidrel.

‘You’re disgusting,’ Gaidrel snapped. ‘Who’s ever heard of a gay angel? It’s sickening.’

‘I’m not an angel,’ Castiel corrected. ‘Not right now, at least. And even if it was it’s not about what I am. It’s about who I am. Dean made me realize that.’

‘Well … he’s stupid,’ Gaidrel said weakly.

Her eyes started to leak black goo again.

‘Dean is the most intelligent man I’ve ever known,’ Castiel said while looking at Dean, Dean looking back at him. ‘And you reflect the opinions of the most ignorant people there were on this earth. Dean, let’s leave. We can just … come back later and kill her or find her in the walls she’s been hiding out in and bugging people.’

‘There’s an angel blade in the trunk of my car,’ Dean agreed, heading towards the door with Cas. ‘Man, I can’t believe the thing we’ve been hunting isn’t even scary. It’s just an idiot.’

‘And petty, too,’ Castiel agreed. ‘Brainwashed.’

‘Dumb as shit,’ said Dean.

‘No,’ said Gaidrel. ‘No, you can’t leave.’

The evil ghost, witch, angel, who had seemed so intimidating at first now just seemed like a weak little girl with her skin falling off and black goo oozing out of her, dripping down her face from her hairline.

‘Bye, bitch,’ Dean offered sweetly, throwing his arm around Cas as he left.

Then Castiel stopped.

‘How did you recognize me, anyway?’ he asked.

‘Your grace may be gone but your vessel contains traces that allows angels to identify you,’ Gaidrel shrugged, sheepish, then fiercely added, ‘you faggy cock-sucking freak.’

‘Okay,’ Castiel said flatly, ‘bye.’

‘ _No_ ,’ Gaidrel hissed.

She tried to follow them out of the door but as she lunged forward she tripped on her torn dress and fell forward. When she tried to stand up, her body began to crumble and burst, turning to the rotting black excrement of her decay.

‘NO!’ she screamed. ‘NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!’

She was screaming until she was nothing but a rotting black pool of mush on the floor.

‘That was weird,’ Dean stated.

‘Extremely,’ Castiel agreed.

‘So, wash up a little, grab a snack then go to bed? We’ve got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Castiel agreed, taking hold of Dean’s hand as they headed for the elevator, Dean’s arm having dropped from around him when they’d turned back to face the ugly gloop dirtying the carpet in the hallway.

By the time they did the reverse of the ritual, they were laughing about it.

‘It was so anti-climatic!’ Dean complained. ‘I was expecting some epic boss battle. But she melted like the fucking Wicked Witch of the West.’

‘Except she was an angel,’ Castiel added. ‘That, I didn’t expect.’

‘Neither did I,’ Dean agreed. ‘Aw, man. This is gonna be a sucky story to tell Sam when I get back to him. Mind if I say it was a witch, she pinned the guy I was hunting with against a wall and me next to him, but I still managed to shoot her while she monologued about how straight people are gonna take over the world?’

‘Tell him whatever you want,’ Castiel shrugged. He knew how it was. He knew Dean would never tell Sam the truth. ‘Hype it up. Make it into such a big deal that it’s as if you killed Hitler or something.’

‘Oh, man,’ Dean mused. ‘Killing Hitler would be _awesome_. Grilled cheese?’

‘With extra cheese,’ Castiel requested as they entered their apartment.

It was as if nothing had even happened and their conversation took them through a meal and some time washing up in the bathroom – they shared some laugher about Cas taking on a homophobic angel bitch with a chest covered in come.

They climbed into bed next to each other and it was welcoming after the long day, but they fell on their backs and didn’t sleep despite how tired they should have been. Instead of tired, they were elated, and smiling for the sake of smiling as their hands joined under the covers.

‘We should tell Sam about what happened tonight,’ Dean decided. ‘I take it back about the lying to him thing about the witch and wall pinning. I want to tell him about the angel, and … I want to tell him I did this with you.’

‘Well you’ll have a good story to tell him when you return, won’t you?’ Castiel asked.

‘I was thinking maybe I could tell him now. Give him a call or something. Let him know it’s over.’

‘Oh, okay. Yes. Call him. Definitely call him. Would you like me to leave the room so you can pretend I’m on the sofa bed if he asks to talk to me? You having to walk out would make it seem more believable that we’re not sharing a bed.’

‘No,’ Dean decided, clutching Cas’s hand more tightly. ‘No, you’re staying right here.’

So Castiel stayed while Dean found Sam’s contact and tapped call, and then put on speaker phone as it rang.

And rang.

And rang.

‘You better have a good explanation for this, Dean. It’s almost two in the morning and I was asleep.’

‘Good morning Starshine, the earth says hello!’

‘… Remind me to get you for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reference later. What do you want?’

‘Alright, crabby. Jeez. So. The witch was an angel and she’s dead.’

‘Wait, what?’

‘It turned out to be some banished angel who thought she was doing God’s work. But we took care of her and now she’s dead. I’ll fill you in on the exact details another time … it’s been a weird case, Sammy. Me and Cas both think so.’

‘You talked to Cas before you talked to me?’ Sam asked, sounding as though he was frowning.

‘No, Cas rescued me from the bitch and was pretty damn badass with her. So thank him for the fact that you still have a brother.’

‘Dean I think you slipped up in your story, there. I thought you were still lying and pretending you’re not working with Cas.’

Dean missed a beat. He looked at Cas, who looked genuinely surprised.

‘You knew?’ he asked.

‘Are you crazy? Of course I knew.’

‘Damn it. Well, say hey, Cas.’

‘Hey, Cas,’ said Cas.

‘Fucker,’ Dean muttered.

‘Don’t call the guy who just saved your ass a “fucker,”’ Sam said disapprovingly.

‘Hey, why do you have to take his side?’

‘Because he just saved my brother’s ass.’

‘You’re welcome,’ said Cas, grinning smugly.

‘Listen, he may have saved me just now, but he’s been _hell_ to live with!’ Dean complained. ‘He got me wet a bunch of times and put fake snow down my pants and he stabbed me with a fork today! And the other night, he even made my _ass_ hurt. It’s not fair, he’s a nightmare, he’s a menace!’

‘I don’t even want to know how he made your ass hurt,’ Sam muttered as Cas placed a hand over his mouth in shock and to stifle laughter. ‘I can understand how he made _Robert’s_ ass hurt …’

‘Sam, _I’m_ Robert. But without the tattoo and the nipple and toe thing.’

‘Yeah, Dean. Like I didn’t already know that. So,’ Sam said slyly, sounding as though he was smirking, ‘Cas was on top, huh? Lucky Robert.’

‘Eh, they only did it once,’ Dean brushed off. ‘Cas prefers me over Robert anyway. Right, Cas?’

‘I’d rather Robert’s accent if I’m honest,’ Castiel mused. ‘And the three nipples thing was a bonus, too. Sorry Dean.’

‘You suck,’ Dean grumbled. ‘You’re never getting anywhere near my ass ever again. Like, ever. Do you hear me?’

‘I hear you,’ Castiel said a little saucily, ‘but I don’t believe you.’

‘What do you mean _again_?’ came Sam’s semi-shocked voice from the phone. ‘The Robert thing was a joke. Right?’

‘Oh, that. Right. So, Cas and I are doing it, Sammy.’

Castiel slammed a hand over his mouth again. When Dean talked about telling Sam … Cas hadn’t expected him to tell him _that_.

‘You and Cas locked up together for a long period of time,’ Sam replied slowly, as if he was thinking deeply about it. ‘Yeah. Not surprised. I hope you used protection. You probably have herpes everywhere and I wouldn’t want Cas to get it.’

‘Apparently he has that, and syphilis, and chlamydia, and he’s pregnant with my child,’ Castiel added.

‘Name it after me,’ said Sam.

‘What the fuck do you mean you’re not surprised?’ Dean demanded.

‘… Have you ever been in a room with you two?’ Sam asked. ‘Because I have. And it always feels like you’re mentally undressing each other.’

‘But … I’m straight,’ Dean said weakly, ‘as far as you know.’

‘Dude, when you were seventeen dad and I thought you were gay,’ Sam scoffed. ‘You managed to worm your way out of that one in his book, but I never believed it. Why do you think I was talking about all the different sexualities to you?’

‘Wait, so you know I’m …’ It was a little difficult to say to Sam, but oddly enough, not terrifying, ‘bi?’

‘Yeah, Dean. I know. Nice to hear that you’re a bottom, though, I assume. That’s totally something I’ve always wanted to know about my brother.’

Sarcastic Sam was sarcastic.

‘Shut up,’ Dean muttered.

‘So, did you two finally relieve that sexual tension or am I to expect a bunch of late night booty calls passing through here?’

‘It wasn’t just sexual tension, Sam,’ Dean frowned. ‘I _love_ Cas. Hell, I’m _in_ – wait, hold up – Cas?’

‘Yeah?’

‘I’m in love with you.’

‘I figured,’ Castiel replied easily. ‘You almost told Sam before you told me so I got the hint from that. I can’t see why you are, but I’m okay with that because I feel the same way and hearing how you feel is bringing about some selfish thoughts despite the fact that I don’t deserve you.’

‘Oh my god,’ said Sam.

‘What do you mean you don’t deserve me?’ Dean asked, dropping the phone.

‘Holy shit. I have to go wake Kevin.’

‘It’s _me_ who doesn’t deserve _you_.’

‘You deserve _better_ than me, Dean.’

‘There _is_ no one better. Not to me.’

‘There’s no one better than you to me, either,’ Castiel said quietly.

‘Can you guys hold off on that revelation for a minute?’ Sam asked. ‘I’m not at Kevin’s room yet.’

‘Shut up, Sammy,’ Dean and Castiel snapped collectively.

‘You really think that?’ Dean asked gently.

‘No,’ Castiel replied, with a shake of his head. ‘I _know_ that. And I’ve told you, over and over, not in those words. I’ve told you all of the good things I’ve seen in you. And I’ve seen that you don’t believe me and that’s okay, but … please believe me, Dean. Please. I need you to believe me.’

‘No, no, no,’ Dean whispered frantically, grabbing Cas’s face because he saw tears in his eyes. ‘Please don’t do that, Cas. Please. You don’t want to hurt me, do you?’

Castiel shook his head, putting one hand over one of Dean’s on his face and holding it there.

‘I never want to hurt you,’ Castiel replied so quietly he wasn’t even sure if Dean could hear him anymore. ‘You don’t deserve that. You told me you needed me once. More than once. I need you, Dean. _I_ need _you_.’

‘You don’t,’ Dean corrected. ‘No, you don’t. All you need is yourself because you’re stronger than I am. But if you _want_ me … then god damnit Cas, I want you to want me no matter how damn selfish that is.’

‘Humans _are_ selfish,’ Castiel stressed. ‘We’re selfish creatures who do things and feel things and say things we know we shouldn’t. And then … then we discover that it’s okay to be selfish sometimes. Isn’t it?’

‘ _Please_ be selfish,’ Dean begged. ‘Please, please be selfish. And come back to the bunker with me. I don’t care what anyone else says, but come back with me, Cas. Come home with me. I know the bunker is nothing like what we’ve got here, but …’

‘It’s fine,’ Castiel promised. ‘Anywhere is fine. I don’t care. The floor of a supply closet is fine if you’re there.’

And _then_ all of that weight lifted. The pressure. Everything; it was gone. Everything was out in the open beyond casual comments, and they were desperate and clingy and stupid and cliché, as cliché as their first kiss undr the mistetoe had been and that was okay. That was fine. Because now they were kissing and then there were two voices of ‘AWWWWWWW’s on the phone and they didn’t care about those nosy ass eavesdroppers because why should they? This was their fucking moment and they were going to live in it.

‘Now,’ Dean announced once they’d pulled apart. ‘Goodnight, Samuel. Goodnight … uh … Kevual. We’ll see you two days and if anyone has a problem with that, I mean anyone at all … they can go fuck themselves with a crucifix like the kid from The Exorcist.’

‘No problems here, Dean,’ Sam promised.

‘I _knew_ you guys would end up together,’ Kevin said gleefully.

Ezekiel said nothing at all and seemed to hopefully have gotten Dean’s hidden message.

‘I’m hanging up now,’ Dean decided.

‘Bye, Dean,’ said Kevin.

‘Bi, Dean,’ said Sam. ‘As in bisexual. Haha, get it? Two in the morning and I’m funnier than you’ll ever be.’

‘Bye, Sammy,’ Dean replied with some laughter and a roll of his eyes, hanging up. And then he turned to Cas. ‘By the way, Cas?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Sam’s possessed.’

‘ _What?_ ’

They stayed up until three talking about it.

Dean told Cas everything. Every single thing that Cas didn’t know, that they’d been hiding from him, even things long past, and Cas listened to it all intently and didn’t get angry once, didn’t get upset once, but simply accepted it all because that’s what Cas did – he accepted Dean and everything he did, flaws and all. And now that he knew that, he wondered why he’d ever doubted it, because it just seemed so _obvious_ , and even though he didn’t love himself, he could accept that Cas loved him, and he finally grew to see Cas’s way of thinking.

He knew it was unhealthy to rely on someone else for love and self-validation, but that’s just how things were. Dean had never had much validation in the past, he had more issues than every single patient of every single therapist in the state combined, and he knew he had those issues, and Cas knew he had those issues, and he was also certain that with Cas’s help maybe one day, years off into the future if he lived that long, that Cas would help him face them, and he would help Cas face his own issues too.

They were a messed up pair, but they were the perfect messed up pair, and now all they could do was try and get a goodnight’s sleep before packing up tomorrow – clothes and cards and games and all, and their pictures, though fake, would stay in their room at the bunker with them, where they belonged.

‘I wish we could take the ping pong table,’ Dean said sadly as they were packing up the next day.

‘We can make our own using a table at the bunker,’ Castiel said optimistically. ‘And don’t forget we still have some food in the fridge we need to eat before we go. And we still have snacks we can bring with us for the road.’

‘Got it,’ Dean nodded, striding across the room to the fridge and then he called over his shoulder, ‘hey, Cas?’

‘Yeah?’

‘You have pretty eyes.’

‘Stop it,’ Castiel warned.

‘Alright, alright. So what are you going to do with that suit and trench coat, then, since you’ve updated your wardrobe?’

‘We still have a long way to go on angels on earth front, even if at this current point there’s no way to get them back into heaven,’ Castiel shrugged, delicately placing the pictures from the mantle in one of their bags. ‘We’ll have crime scenes to investigate, I presume. So I’ll need something formal to wear.’

‘True,’ Dean approved. ‘Any names in mind for visiting crime scenes?’

‘You usually go with musical artists, correct?’

‘Yup.’

‘How about Beyoncé?’

‘Dude, no.’

‘Spears?’

‘No.’

‘Aguilera?’

‘No.’

‘Cyrus?’

‘As in Billy Ray?’

‘No, as in Miley.’

‘How about I just pick the names, yeah?’ Dean asked as Cas walked over to him to wait by the microwave as their leftover lunch from yesterday heated up. ‘And how about you never, ever listen to the radio again unless they’re playing decent music?’

‘… Swift?’ Castiel said hopefully.

‘Oh my god, Cas. Shut up. Shut up right now.’

‘One Direction?’ Castiel asked slyly, grinning with a face full of mischief.

‘You’re corrupt,’ Dean groaned dramatically, placing his forehead on Cas’s shoulder. ‘I need to _fix_ you. Never listen to the radio, Cas. It’s a hazard. You could lose brain cells.’

‘Okay, I won’t listen to the radio,’ Castiel promised. ‘I’ll listen to whatever you want me to whether that’s classic rock songs, or you butchering classic rock songs while singing in the shower.’

‘That’s my Cas,’ Dean grinned.

His Cas.

 _His_ Cas.

‘ _My_ Cas,’ Dean said quietly.

He was forced to put a hand over his eyes as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. And Cas was there, his arms were there, and his lips were wherever Dean wanted them to be.

They left the apartment fully furnished, but it still felt ghostly. Before they left it they walked around it one last time; they would miss every part of it, from the bathtub they never used, to the shower they’d never gotten to have shower sex in, to the balcony were they spent many an evening outside with a snack quietly talking, to the sofa bed where they had their movie nights and lazy days in, living the life of the perfect couple that would vanish, and everyone in the building would be confused by.

They felt a little bad about not saying goodbye to Dalia, or to Piper and Dani, or to the queens or to Hasdiel and his husband. But they left something behind for whoever found the place: the book, the book they hadn’t written, but held many aspects of their lives.

They were _so close_ to having the perfect escape, when they ran into the Supernatural fans in the parking lot.

‘You found him!’ Lexi greeted Cas brightly, skipping over towards the two of them. ‘Are you guys leaving?’

‘Afraid so,’ Dean nodded.

‘We have work … elsewhere,’ Castiel added.

‘Say hey to Sam for us,’ Kat requested.

‘We will,’ Dean promised.

There was an unspoken knowledge that they were who they were and who they seemed to be, and the fans were okay with that.

‘So what I’ve been wondering,’ Evan chipped in, ‘are you guys actually together? Or was it just for the case?’

‘Oh, we’re together,’ Dean confirmed. ‘Right, Cas?’

‘Of course,’ Castiel agreed, reaching out to grab onto Dean’s hand.

And so that sprouted a three-way argument of “I told you so!” and “But I really, really thought they weren’t!” which was just typical, but eventually it ended and Dean and Cas got to say goodbye and slip into the Impala, side by side as Dean started it.

They drove through the day and spent the night at a hotel, one bed, together. Their morning in the motel got a little distracted due to the fact that Cas just thought Dean looked really hot when he was stretching, but hey – that was just them. They got distracted by each other easily because it was about damn time they were allowed to do that.

Of course, they drove through the next day and when they got to the bunker that night, Sam and Kevin were eager to hear every single little detail from start to finish, so they obliged, right from “I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend” up to the last words Dean and Cas had said before entering the bunker, with as much detail and drama as possible. Kevin went to bed that night laughing his ass off about the exploding angel of goo and wondering how the hell it hell it had just exploded.

‘Was it like a Disney movie true love’s kiss?’ he asked. ‘Or did you just piss her off so much that she got angry and blew up?’

‘We’ll never know,’ Dean shrugged.

Cas went to bed soon after Kevin, tired after a long day. That left Sam and Dean alone, to exchange a few brotherly words of congratulations and some ‘it’s about time!’ teasing, and then of course, naturally, Ezekiel made his appearance.

‘Look, man,’ was what Dean had to say to him, ‘you can tell me Cas is a danger, whatever, but I don’t care. He’s not. He knows you’re in Sam and he doesn’t care as long as you heal Sam up good. So lay off him and let him be, alright? He won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt him. Now goodnight.’

And then Dean had left without waiting for a response.

Sam was close behind him, back to himself again, on the way to his own room near Dean’s.

‘So, I would never have pegged you for a bottom!’ Sam said joyously, teasing and perky. You’d never know he was possessed. ‘Although, looking more closely …’

‘Please don’t,’ Dean groaned.

‘I know, I know,’ Sam said quickly, ‘or you’ll shave my head, right?’

‘Right.’

‘Then I’ll shut up.’

‘I appreciate that.’

They parted for bed in high spirits, and Cas was in Dean’s room when Dean got there. He looked so perfect there, like he slotted right into place. He wasn’t sleeping. He wasn’t even undressed yet. He was staring at his trench coat which he’d unpacked as he’d begun to unpack their things.

Dean strolled right up to him, took Cas’s hand, grabbed the trench coat and led him to the place Dean kept all of his clothes. He cleared a spot for Cas and put the trench coat in securely, and helped Cas with the rest of his things.

When they were done, they climbed into their bed, not as large as their old one, but at least this mattress was memory foam. And then they came together and closed their eyes, ready for whatever came next because they knew when it came time to face it, they would face it together.

**Author's Note:**

> I like this better than the original ending. But I had to keep the original ending because it displays my blunt bitterness about the actual slow.
> 
> Also, sly reference to a comment on the original ending chapter about what actually happened with the exploding angel.


End file.
